Preschool job qualifications

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A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Google is facing new allegations of underpaying female employees. SAN FRANCISCO — Google is facing allegations it underpays female teachers in its childcare center, expanding the scope of a lawsuit that claims the Internet giant has a pattern of shortchanging women. In a complaint filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, former employee, Heidi Lamar, alleges female teachers were paid less than men with fewer qualifications to do the same job.

Lamar says she worked for four years as a preschool teacher and infant and toddler teacher at Google’s Children Center in Palo Alto before quitting in August. Three men were employed as preschool teachers, with two of the men starting with higher salaries than nearly all the women. The lawsuit that Lamar joined was initially brought by three women, Kelly Ellis, Holly Pease and Kelli Wisuri, who say they quit Google after being placed at lower job levels, resulting in lower pay and denying them promotions and moves to other teams that would advance their careers. Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano said the company disagrees with the “central allegations of this amended lawsuit. We work really hard to create a great workplace for everyone, and to give everyone the chance to thrive here. Job levels and promotions are determined through rigorous hiring and promotion committees, and must pass multiple levels of review, including checks to make sure there is no bias in these decisions,” Scigliano said in a statement.